Adventures of Emmanuel Swan
by AIwaysHungry
Summary: This is another version of the show Once Upon A Time. Everything happens like in the show, except for a little thing: Emma pretends to be Emmanuel Swan, her own nonexistent brother; due to an undercover mission. Will everyone in Storybrooke, specially Regina and Henry, ever find out that Emmanuel is actually a woman? Will they be okay with her, not being who she pretended to be?..
1. Chapter 1

[Emma's thoughts: -...-

Regina's thoughts: *...*]

**Chapter 1: The Meeting**

"Is that a good book?" An old woman said to the boy who was sitting on the right side of the bus.

"This-it's more than just a book." He said, motioning to the book in his hands. The elderly woman just chuckled gently.

"Boston South Station. Thank you for riding right up." A male voice said through the speakers.

The little boy climbed out of the bus and looked around for a taxi. There was a lot of noise in that city, cars were driving everywhere and people walked around the streets. The boy smiled softly as he finally saw a taxi. Gently he knocked on the window of the passenger's seat. The taxi driver hung up his call and pushed the button to let the window down.

"Uh, you take credit cards?" The kid grinned as he pulled 'his' credit card out of his jacket pocket and held it against the window. The man nodded his head slowly.

"Where to, chief?"

Meanwhile, the blonde woman, named Emma Swan, was getting ready for her 'date' with a female criminal, because she had to arrest her. Emma was on an undercover mission, that means, she had to transform herself into another person; this time into a man. She put on a blonde, man-hair cut wig and a bandage around her torso, covering her breasts. For her outfit, she chose to wear jeans, a black shirt, a dark-grey, sporty but elegant jacket and black shoes. The blonde was almost done, she decided to put on some makeup on her chin and jawline, to make it look as if she was fresh shaved.

"Alright." Emma said in her male voice. She was no longer Emma Swan, she was now Emmanuel Swan.

The 'man' grabbed his keys and walked out of his apartment, on his way to the restaurant, which was a few streets away, where he would meet the female criminal, named Rihanna.

Once he entered the restaurant he let a soft sigh out. He passed the tables until he saw a woman smiling confused at him, waiting at the table. "Emmanuel." She stood up to greet him with a gentle hand shake.

"Rihanna?" He shook her hand, just as gentle. "You look really-" Emmanuel couldn't really find his words and chuckled instead, holding the stool back for her.

"Ooh, it is the internet." Rihanna laughed softly and sat down.

"So.." The 'man' sat down, across from her and smiled softly.

"So.. Uhm, tell me something about yourself, Emmanuel." The brunette smiled warmly and took a sip of her wine.

"Oh.. Uh.. Well, today is my birthday." He smiled a little ashamed, he didn't really want to say it, but since he didn't think of any other topic to talk, he said it.

"And you're spending it with me? What about your friends?" She asked curiously.

"I'm kind of a loner" Emmanuel shrugged softly and looked down at the table.

"And.. You don't like your family?" Rihanna raised her eyebrow at him.

"I don't have a family to like." Emmanuel said quickly and chuckled again.

"Ow, come on, everyone has a family." The woman was surprised that a 'man' like him didn't really have friends.

"Technically, yeah.. And not everyone knows who they are.. I did the run yet?" He frowned softly and smiled insecure at her.

"Och, not a chance! You, Emmanuel are by far, the sexiest friendless orphan I've ever met." The female criminal said and winked at him, with a cheeky grin on her face.

"Okay! Your turn. No, wait! Let me guess." Emmanuel put both of his hands on the table and looked into her caramel brown eyes. "Uhm, you are stunning, handsome-" He said and got interrupted by her.

"Go on." She blushed.

Emmanuel continued with a smirk on his face. "-that kind of woman who, and stop me if I get this wrong, embezzled from your employer, got arrested and skipped town before they rippled to throw your ass in jail." The tone of Emma's voice was serious but she was still in her role.

"Huh, what?" The happy look on the woman's face suddenly turned into a confused one.

"And the worst part of all this, is your husband. Your husband loves you so much, that he bailed you out and how do you repay that loyalty? You're on a date." Emmanuel shook his head at her and pursed his lips.

"Who are you?" The brunette furrowed her eyebrows in anger.

"The chick who put up the rest of the money." The blonde smirked when she responded in her normal female voice.

"You're a woman and a bailsman?!" Rihanna looked confused but then she shook her head and chuckled as she felt fooled and moved her gaze away from the blonde's. She unexpectedly stood up and flipped the table, before she ran away.

The wine spilled all over Emmanuel's clothes and he just huffed, shaking his head. "Agh.. Really?"

Then he stood up and followed her outside. Rihanna ran to her car, unlocking it, before she climbed in, quickly. But Emmanuel had locked the wheel, so she couldn't drive away. The woman noticed it and immediately gave up. She looked up at the blonde who was standing at her car door.

"You don't have to do this, okay? I pay you. I have money." She offered with a helpless look on her face.

"No you don't. And if you did, you should save it for your husband and family." Emma said and chuckled at the woman's helpless look.

"What do you know about family, huh?" Rihanna scoffed and the blonde's chuckle disappeared and turned into a furious look.

She reached her right hand through the open window and grit the other woman's hair and banged her head against the steering wheel in anger, and whispered, "Nothing." before she walked back to her yellow bug.

"Agh.." Emma sighed as she rolled her eyes and leaned back onto her seat. She pulled her phone out of her pants pocket and reported the female criminal.

The day was almost over and so was her birthday as well. The blonde decided to drive to the cupcake shop that was nearby, to buy herself a cupcake and some star candles in different colors. Once she arrived to her apartment, she let out a soft but exhausted sigh.

Emma was still in her 'Emmanuel' outfit although she could actually take it off, but she somehow felt comfortable in it. She walked over to her kitchen island and opened the white box in which her cupcake was in. Then she grabbed and opened the pack of star candles and picked a blue one. Carefully she placed it into the frosting, on top of her cupcake and pulled the matchsticks box out of the drawer, picking one out and brushing the sulfur side of the stick against the one of the box. After she lit the candle, she blew off the matchstick and crossed her arms, resting them on the kitchen island as she leaned down.

Her chin placed above her arms as she spoke her wish out loud. "Another better year." Her eyes flutter shut as she blows the blue star candle off. The sudden and unexpected noise of her doorbell made the woman widen her eyes open.

-Who might that be? I'm not expecting any visit.- The blonde thought while she walked to the door. She opened the door and first she didn't see anyone, because that someone was tinier than she thought.

A little boy was standing in front of her. "Uhm.. can I help you?" The young woman furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she asked in her normal voice.

"Are you-.. Does Emma Swan live here?" The boy was now confused, he didn't expect a man opening Emma's apartment door.

"I am-" Emma stopped talking as she noticed that she was still wearing her undercover outfit. She totally forgot that she was still being 'Emmanuel'. -Oh no.- "-I am /her brother/, Emmanuel. And yes, Emma does live here, but she's working right now. Who are you?" Emma disguised her voice and was Emmanuel again.

"My name is Henry. And I can wait for her." Henry smiled gently and invited himself into the blonde's apartment.

"Wow. Hey. Hey! Kid! /Kid/! Who are you?! Where are your parents?" Emmanuel close the door and followed the boy into the kitchen, wondering what he wanted from her.

The little boy stopped and turned around to face the 'man'. "I'm-her son." He said very sure about it.

"She /doesn't/ have a son!?" Emmanuel furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, again.

"10 years ago. She gave up a baby for adoption..-" The furrow of Emmanuel's eyebrows suddenly disappeared. "-that was me." Henry added.

"..give me a minute.." With widened eyes and a slightly dropped jaw, Emmanuel walked into the bathroom, breathing heavily. -Okay. Calm down, Em. This cannot be him.- Memories of what happened 10 years ago, came into her mind,

"Hey, do you have any juice? ..Nevermind, found some!" which got interrupted by the boy, who had just found some orange juice.

Emmanuel came out of the bathroom and found Henry drinking out of the orange juice bottle. "When is Emma coming home?" The boy asked curiously and set the bottle onto the table.

"She-won't come home." The 'man' let out a soft sigh while he frowned in concern.

"Wh-why? Did you call her? Did you tell her who I am?" With a shaking voice, Henry asked. Tears were forming in the boy's eyes as he tried to stay strong, by holding them back.

"No." The blonde said quietly, almost whispering.

"Then why won't she come?" The young boy swallowed thickly.

"Because.." Emmanuel started to think of an excuse.

"Because what?" Henry furrowed his eyebrows while he looked right into the hazel eyes of the 'man'.

"She doesn't live here anymore." Emmanuel chew on his lower lip nervously.

"What do you mean? But.." The boy shook his head in confusion.

"I'm sorry, kid." A soft sigh escaped through those pale lips of Emma.

"Where does she live?" Henry asked in hope of getting an address and maybe even make a visit.

"She's gone.." The young woman whispered.

"..no.. I-I don't believe you." The boy refused to believe that his biological mother could be probably dead.

"Look, it's getting late let me bring you home." Emmanuel suggested while he walked closer to the boy.

"No.. I can take the bus." Henry shook his head and crossed his arms.

"Sure. And get caught by the cops? Where do you live?" The blonde scoffed softly while he rolled his eyes.

"Storybrooke, Maine." The little boy sighed and mumbled softly.

"Storybrooke. Seriously?" Emma arched an eyebrow. She obviously never heard about that town before.

"Mhm." Henry hummed in affirmation.

"Alright then. Let's get you back to Storybrooke. Wait here while I go grab my jacket.." Emmanuel took a deep breath and walked into his room. -Damn. Now I have to pretend to be a man.- The young woman thought while she looked through her wardrobe. She picked her favorite red leather jacket. -Good. I still look manly..- She thought as she stood in front of her mirror. Emmanuel walked out of the bedroom and glanced over at the boy, who was already waiting at the door.

"Okay. Let's go." The man grabbed his keys and walked out of the apartment.

Later in the car, when both were halfway to Storybrooke, the boy wanted to make a stop. "I'm hungry. Can we stop somewhere?" He asked, hoping that Emmanuel would say 'yes'.

"This is not a road trip. We're not stopping for snacks." The man said while he kept his gaze on the streets.

"Why not?" Henry furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side.

"Quit complaining, kid." The blonde rolled her eyes.

"My name is Henry." The boy let a soft sigh out and looked out of the window.

Emma glanced at him and noticed the book, that the boy was holding all the time. -Once Upon A Time..?- Emma wondered. "What's that?" She asked curiously.

"A book." He said, still looking out of the window.

"About fairytales?" Emmanuel laughed softly.

"They're not fairytales. They're true. Every story in this book actually happened." The kid glanced at her and furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance.

"Of course they did.-" Emma paused and rolled her eyes while she shook head. "-Just because you believe in something, doesn't make it true." The woman added.

"That's exactly what makes it true.-" The young teenage boy sighed. "-I'm sure Emma would know exactly about that.." He whispered softly as he looked out of the window again.

"Why is that?" The blonde had a confused expression on her face.

"Because she is in this book." He looked down at his book.

"Oh kid, you got problems." Emma raised her eyebrows slightly and chuckled softly.

"Yeah. And Emma was supposed to fix them.." Henry nodded his head softly and opened his book, to continue to read it.

Soon both passed by a green shield on the side of the street on which was written 'Entering Storybrooke'. As they reached the heart of the town, the blonde wanted to know where the kid lives.

"Okay, kid, how about an address." The man asked.

"44. I'm not telling you street." Henry crossed his arms and refused to tell Emmanuel where he lived.

The blonde stamped on the break agressively and huffed. He slammed the door as he climbed out of his yellow bug. "Look. It's been a long night. And it's almost- 8:15 pm?" Emma got confused when she saw that it was only 8:15 pm.

"That clock hasn't moved in my whole life. Time is frozen here." The boy climbed out of the car as well and shrugged softly as he explained the man about the time in Storybrooke.

"Excuse me?" Emma crossed her arms and looked down at the boy, still with a confused face.

"The evil queen did it with her curse. She sent everyone from the enchanted forest here." The boy shifted from foot to foot.

"Again. The evil queen sent a bunch of fairytale characters here." Emmanuel arched an eyebrow, not quite believing him.

"Yeah. And now they're trapped." Henry nodded his head.

"Frozen in time and got stuck in Storybrooke, Maine. That's what you're growing with?" Emmanuel shook his head in disbelief.

"It's true!" The kid stamped while he crossed his arms as well.

"Then why does nobody just leave?!" Emma placed her hands into her posterior pants pockets and shrugged as she wondered.

"They can't. If they try, bad things happen." Henry explained and in that moment, a man showed with his Dalmatian dog.

"Henry, what are you doing here? Is everything alright?" He asked as he walked closer to them.

"I'm fine, Archie." The boy smiled gently and stroked the dog.

"Who's this?" Archie referred to Emma.

"He's someone trying to get him a ride home." Emmanuel said and smiled softly.

"He's my mom's brother, Archie." Henry said, obviously referring to the side of his biological mother.

"Owh.. I see." The man nodded his head slowly.

"You know where he lives?" Emmanuel crossed his arms and asked Archie.

"Yeah, sure. Just, uh, right down the Mifflin Street. The mayor's house is the biggest one of the block." He told Emma, offering him a gentle smile.

"You're the mayor's kid?" The blonde glared down at the boy.

"M-maybe." The boy gave him a sheepishly smile.

"Oh, where were you today, Henry, 'cause you missed your session." The other man furrowed his eyebrows lightly in curiosity.

"I-forgot to tell you, I went on a trip." Henry shrugged softly and shifted his foot while he looked down.

"Henry, what did I tell you about lying? Giving into one's dark side, never accomplishes anything." Archie kneeled down to the boys height.

"Oookaay. I should be really getting him home." Emmanuel widened his eyes and grinned softly.

"Yeah, sure. Well, listen, have a good night and uh, you be good, Hen." The other man patted Henry's arm and continued walking Pongo, his dog.

"So that's your shrink?" Emmanuel scoffed softly.

"I'm not crazy." The boy furrowed his eyebrows again.

"I didn't say that. It's just, he doesn't seem /cursed/ to me. He's just trying to help you." Emma shrugged.

"He's the one who needs help, because he doesn't know." The boy put his hands into his jacket pockets.

"That he's a fairytale character?" Emmanuel arched his eyebrow again.

"None of them do. They don't remember who they are." Henry walked around the car and climbed into it.

"Convenient. Alright. I'll play. Who's he supposed to be?" The blonde nodded his head, scoffing as he climbed into the car as well.

"Gimminy Cricket." The boy said.

"Right. The lying thing." Emma laughed softly.

"I'm not Pinocchio." Henry crossed his arms.

"Of course you're not. 'Cause that would be ridiculous." The savior rolled her eyes and kept laughing softly. She started the engine and finally drove off, on her way to the boys mansion.

As both arrived to the mansion, Emma parked her car right next to the sidewalk. Both climbed out of the bug and the boy was the first to break the silence.

"Please don't take me back here." He begged the man in front of him.

"I have to, I'm sure your parents are worried sick about you." The blonde was all serious as he walked to the porch.

"I don't have parents, just a mom and she's-evil." Henry looked down as he followed the blonde.

"/Evil/. It's a bit extremely, isn't it?" Emma stopped in the middle of the way to the porch and turned around.

"She is. She doesn't love me, she only pretends to." Henry sighed sadly and shrugged softly.

The savior bent down to his height and sighed as well. "Kid. I'm sure that's not true." The man said while he looked into the boy's eyes.

In that instant, the door of the mansion opened and a short haired brunette, shouted "Henry?!.." and ran out with open arms, to welcome her kid back home.

A young man walked out of the mansion as well.

"Henry! Are you okay? Where have you been?! What happened?" The adoptive mother asked while she hugged her son tightly.

"I found my /real/ family; I found my uncle." The boy pulled back and ran inside the mansion.

*Oh my.. He doesn't look bad at all!* "Y-you're Henry's /uncle/?" The brunette blinked her eyes quickly, not quite believing that Henry had found the brother of his biological mother.

-Damn! Is that Henry's adoptive mother?! But she's so.. good looking and hot, and perfect.. doesn't look /evil/ at all. Oh geez, dude, she's talking to you, calm down.- "Hi." The blonde brushed her tongue over her lower lip, to moisten it and swallowed thickly but offered a bright but gentle smile.

"I'll just check on the lad, make sure he's alright." The man in the background, who seemed to be a sheriff walked into the mansion.

-Whoa, Em, what's up, dude? Calm down. She's probably married to that guy.. And besides this, you're not even gay-or?.. Shit, that woman is staring at me.. I bet she already figured out that I'm a woman and not a guy.. Well fuck.- A few seconds of silence passed until one of them, the brunette, broke the silence.

*I have to show some generosity. I mean.. he brought my son back home..?* "How do you like a glass of the best apple cider you've ever tasted?" Her shocked expression turned into a warm and gentle one.

-Stay cool, Em, cool.- "Got anything stronger?" Emmanuel shrugged softly but accepted the offer and both finally walked into the mansion.

**[I decided to update the first chapter, since some of you told me and I noticed myself, that I should've used paragraphs! **

**Sorry! I'm still learning.. :P **

**Thank you all for your follows and favorites and reviews! **

**And by the way: The idea of this fic, was not mine. It was from someone on Twitter and she asked for someone to write it and so I suggested myself to do it. And it comes out, that another person was writing it as well and got to upload it before me, and that's why some of you think I copied her. But I assure you, I did not! ;) **

**Anyway, thank you again, for reading and your constructive reviews! **

**Currently working on Chapter 2!]**


	2. Chapter 2

**_[A little note to all of you, from _****_ReginaKatic_****_: _**

**_"_****Hi! Just a note to say, this is a great story, based on a PUBLIC prompt which we are both the stories are similar, they are already going in very different directions, and I actually think it's really interesting to see how two different authors handle the same idea. The prompt was not mine, I was asked to write the story by a friend, and A is doing the same thing. I am communicating with her, and if she receives any more hate, I will stop writing my story, too. Do not send hate to people when you don't know the facts. There is already a note at the top of my latest chapter saying I am happy about this story existing alongside my own." ]**

_[Emma's thoughs: -...-_

_Regina's thoughts: *...*]_

**Chapter 2: Goodbye**

As both walked into the mansion, they introduced themselves and then Regina walked right into the kitchen, while Emmanuel waited in the lobby. -Whoa, /that's/ a mansion!- The brunette grabbed two whiskey glasses and carried them to her mini bar, which was placed in her lobby.

"How did he find out where Emma lived?" Emmanuel asked while he placed his hands into his posterior pants pockets and watched the adoptive mother of Henry, put some ice cubes, before she poured the apple cider into each glass.

"/Lived/?" *Hmm, she might have moved out and left him the apartment.* "No idea. When I adopted him, he was only 3 weeks old. And I was told, the birth mother didn't want to have any contact." Regina shrugged softly.

"Yes. You were told right." The blonde pursed his lips.

"Where is she?" Regina asked curiously.

"She, uh.. she-" Emmanuel frowned in thought,

"Died?" Regina spoke out the word, coldly as she finished his sentence.

"Yeah.." The 'man' nodded his head slowly.

"When, if I may ask?" She asked curiously.

"..4 years ago.." He said with a soft tone in his voice.

"And the father? Do I need to worry about him?" The brunette raised an eyebrow.

"Nope. He doesn't even know about Henry." Emmanuel shook his head and leaned against the wall.

"Do I need to be worried about you, Mr. Swan?" Regina turned around and walked to him and hand him his glass, with a soft smirk on her face.

"Absolutely not." Emmanuel shook his head again and raised his eyebrows lightly as he reached for his glass. -Why should she be worried about me? Does she know that.. uh, I find her kind of attractive?-

In that moment, sheriff Graham Humbert, walked downstairs. "Madam mayor, you can relax, other than being a tired little boy, he's fine." He said with a soft and reassuring smile.

"Thank you, sheriff." Regina nodded her head once and offered him a soft smile.

The sheriff nodded his head gently. He had night shift and so we had to go back to his duties. The young brown haired man walked out of the mansion, on his way back to the sheriff station.

"I'm sorry he dragged you out of your life. I really don't know what's got into him." The brunette said to Henry's 'uncle' as she walked to her workroom.

The blonde pushed herself away from the wall and followed her. "Kid's having a rough time, happens." She said and took a seat on the vintage sofa.

"You have to understand, ever since I became mayor, balancing things has been tricky." The brunette closed the door and took a seat on the armchair across from the blonde. "You have a job?" She asked curiously.

"Uh, I keep busy." Emmanuel chuckled softly and placed his glass on the coffee table.

"Yeah? Imagine having another one, on top of it. I've been a single mom. So, I push for order. Am I strict? I suppose. But I do it for his own good. I want Henry to excel in life. I don't think that makes me evil, do you?" Regina tilted her head slightly to the side and forced a soft smile as she asked the blonde for his opinion.

"I'm-sure he's just saying that, because of the fairy tale thing." Emmanuel took a sip of his drink.

"What fairy tale thing?" Regina furrowed her eyebrows lightly in confusion and thought. *I hope Henry didn't tell him everything. That little smart boy.*

"Oh you know, his book. Henry thinks everyone is a cartoon character from it, like his shrink, he's Gimminy Cricket." Emmanuel laughed softly while he explained.

"I'm sorry, I-really have no any idea what you're talking about." Regina shook her head, apparently she didn't know about her son's fairy tale book.

"You know what. It's none of my business. He's your kid. And I really should be heading back." The blonde sighed softly while she smiled gently and shrugged, before she took another gulp of the best cider she had ever tasted.

*If Emmanuel would stay, who knows, maybe he would ruin my plans, by finding out who everyone is and who I really am.* "Of course!" Regina straightened her skirt as she stood up to open the door, motioning for the blonde to go home.

Emmanuel widened his eyes as he was about to swallow the cider, not expecting that Regina would say goodbye that fast. -But,.. I didn't even finish my apple cider..- He set his glass onto the coffee table and stood up, to walk out of the mayor's workroom.

The brunette walked him to the main door. "Goodbye, Mr. Swan." She offered him a soft smile.

The woman knew she couldn't get closer to him. That would be no good for the town nor her, since everyone was cursed, but Henry and her. And after all, he was the savior's brother.

"Bye." The blonde said with a soft tone in his voice. -It was nice to meet you..-

He walked back to his yellow bug and climbed in.

Henry was standing at the window of his room, watching the savior's 'brother' go back to his 'home'.

Emmanuel felt watched and so he turned around and saw how the boy ran back to his bed and turned off the light.

The blonde just sighed and started the engine. Finally driving off, on her way back to Boston.

As Emma was about to cross the town line, she looked to the passenger's seat, where she saw Henry's book. "Silly boy." She shook her head and in that instant, a white wolf stopped in the middle of the road.

The young woman widened her eyes and startled when she saw the wolf and immeadiately turned to the left. And because the road was wet because of the rainy weather, Emma crashed against the 'Welcome to Storybrooke' sign which was on the side of the road. Her head banged against the steering wheel and the woman was unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

**_[Sorry you guys had to wait a little while for this chapter! It's a bit longer than the others and I hope you enjoy reading it! Thank you for following and faving me and my fic!]_**

_[Emma's thoughs: -...-_

_Regina's thoughts: *...*]_

**Chapter 3: 8:16 P.M. **

A whistle caused Emma to widen her eyes and finally wake up. She found herself laying on a bed inside a cell. -Where the hell am I?! ...Ouch!- The blonde furrowed her eyebrows in slight pain and confusion as she rubbed her head and noticed she was still wearing her wig. -Ugh..- She lifted herself up, to see who was whistling.

"What are you looking at, bro?" A grumpy, not so tall guy, who was sitting on the bed of the other cell, said to the blonde.

"Ey, Leroy, manners. We have a guest!" An old man, who was preparing himself some coffee, said to the grumpy guy. "So, you are, eh, Henry's uncle. How lovely for him, to have you back in his life." He added with a gentle smile.

Emma cleared her voice gently and started to speak as Emmanuel. "Actually, I was just dropping him off." She said frowning.

"Tzz, I don't blame ya. They're all brats. Who needs them?" Leroy rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Well, I'd give anything for one. My wife and I, we tried, for many years, but-uh.. it was not meant to be." The older man with an italian accent, said before he took a sip of his coffee.

"Well cry me a river." The grumpy guy said.

"Leroy! I'm gonna let you out, you have to behave.-" The sheriff appeared and walked to him, to let him free. "-Put on a smile and stay out of trouble." He added as he opened the cell door and took small steps back, to let him out.

The grumpy guy walked out of the cell, sarcastically faking a bright smile for the sheriff.

Graham just shook his head and closed the cell door, once the other man was gone.

Emmanuel leaned against the cell door, hanging his head between the prison bars and slightly out of the cell. "Seriously?" He arched his eyebrow at the other man.

"Regina's drinks. A little stronger than we thought." The sheriff walked slowly to him.

"I wasn't drunk. There was a wolf, standing in the middle of the road." Emmanuel said with an annoyed tone in his voice.

"A wolf. Right." The sheriff pursed his lips and nodded his head once. Not really believing the other man.

"Graham! Henry has ran away again, we have to-" In that instant, the madam mayor walked in and paused herself in shock, as she saw the man in red leather jacket inside the cell.

*Mr. Swan?! But-..*

"-What is /he/ doing here?" Regina asked the sheriff, but before he could answer, "Do you know where my son is?" She asked the blonde as she walked closer to him.

"Honey, I haven't seen him, since I dropped him in your house and-" Emmanuel motioned to the prison bars. "-pretty good alibi." He shrugged softly and offered the brunette a gentle grin.

"Yeah, well, he wasn't in his room this morning." Regina answered with a serious tone in her voice.

"You tried his friends?" Emmanuel smiled gently at her.

"He /doesn't/ really have any. He's kind of a loner." The mayor replied while she looked right into the hazel eyes of Emmanuel.

"Every kid has friends." The blonde tilted his head in thought. "You checked his computer? If he's close to someone, he'd be emailing them."

"And you know this, /how/?" The mayor crossed her arms and quirked an eyebrow at the blonde.

"Finding people is what I do. Here's a deal. How about, you guys let me out and I-help you find him?" Emmanuel offered both of them an innocent smile.

And with that, the brunette motioned to the sheriff, to let the blonde out. Once all of them walked out of the sheriff station, Emmanuel followed Regina, who was climbing into her Mercedes, but the sheriff was fast enough to grab the guy by his arm, gently.

"Uh-uh. You're coming with me, mate." He said as he shook his head and chuckled softly.

-What the-?! Dude, this is one hot mayor right there and you're forbidding me to get into her car?!..- Emmanuel furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and anger at the same time, as he pulled his arm back, so the sheriff lets go of him.

"Belive me. She wouldn't have let you in, anyway." Graham couldn't help but to laugh softly at the blonde.

-/Right/. Her lover..- Emmanuel rolled his eyes and climbed into the passenger's seat of the patrol car.

-Wow. Wow. Wow. Hold on.. Em.. you're a /woman/.. Why the hell are you behaving like this?! Aren't you supposed to be crushing on the good looking sheriff?!-

"You alright?" Graham asked the blonde, sensing something wrong in him.

"Yeah. Totally. Let's go find that boy!" Emmanuel nodded his head and grinned sheepishly at the sheriff.

"Ookay!" The former huntsman started the engine and drove off, following the mayor, on his way to her mansion.

Later in Regina's mansion, in Henry's room.

"Smart kid." Emmanuel smirked. "Cleared his inbox. I'm smart too, a little hard disk recovery utility I like to use."

"I'm a bit more old-fashioned, in my techniques. Pounding the pavement, knocking on doors, that sort of thing." Graham shrugged softly.

"You're on salary; I get paid for delivery. Pounding pavement is not a luxury that I get." Emmanuel said and tilted his head lightly to the side and furrowed his eyebrows lightly in thought. "Ha! Here's a receipt for a website: ' '. It's expensive. He has a credit card?"

"Agh, he's /10/." Regina said with an annoyed tone in her voice as she made a face and crossed her arms.

"Well, he used one. Let's pull up a transaction record." The blonde shrugged. "Mary Margaret Blanchard. Who's Mary Margaret Blanchard?" Then he glanced at the brunette.

"Henry's teacher." Regina said, as if she would have expected that, somehow.

"Then we should go find her." Emmanuel suggested, as he looked at Regina.

*We?! Pfff.. I bet he just wants to win my son over. UH-UH. Not gonna happen.*

The brunette turned her head to Graham and offered him a gentle smile. "Sheriff, thank you for your help. From now on, I will continue this by myself."

The sheriff nodded his head once and walked out of the room, on his way, back to the station.

"Regina, let me help." Emmanuel looked up at the brunette, in hope that she would say yes.

"It's still /madam mayor/ to you, Mr. Swan and I don't need your help anymore." Regina said very sure about herself.

-Madam mayor.. whatever.-

"But we made a deal. And besides this, I won't be calm, as long as I don't know, where that kid is." Emmanuel said with a serious tone in his voice and shrugged softly.

*Or maybe he's just really concerned about Henry and wants him to be back with me again. Where he belongs.*

"/Fine/." Regina rolled her eyes in annoyance and nodded her head softly.

Emmanuel turned around and shut down Henry's computer, while a victorious but soft smile appeared on his face.

After that, both walked out the boy's room and made their way out of Regina's mansion. The brunette climbed into her blue Mercedes.

The blonde looked confused at her, not sure if he should get in as well.

-Should I get into her car?.. But what if she says no?..-

"Mr. Swan?" Regina said with a questioning face, motioning to him to get into her car.

*Ugh, idiot.*

"I-uh.. yah!" Emmanuel nodded his head softly and walked to the car, finally climbing in.

There was a big silence during the short drive.

Emma was so nervous and she wondered why. Was it because of her identity or was it because she was sitting in the mayor's car. Right next to her.

Probably both.

-Chillax, Em.. everything is gonna be fine. You'll find that boy and then you'll drive back to your apartment in Boston.-

Regina cast a side glance over at the blonde and there she caught him, looking at her.

-She is so beautiful. Gosh, is that woman even real?..-

In that instant, the brunette felt a tickle in her stomach and inhaled deeply, hoping that Emmanuel wouldn't notice the light blush that was to be seen on her cheeks.

*He was looking at me!*

-Is that a blush on her cheeks? Yeah! It is!-

Emma smirked. She obviously noticed the blush on Regina's cheeks. And she thought it was cute.

*Ugh.. finally there!*

Both arrived to Henry's school, where they would surprise his teacher.

Meanwhile in Storybrooke Elementary School, Mary Margaret was teaching her class, like usually.

"As we build our bird houses, remember, what we're making is a home, not a cage. The bird is free and it will do what it will. This is for them, not us. They're loyal creatures." She explained to the kids, while she held a small blue bird in her hands and walked to the open window.

"If you love them, and they love you, they will /always/ find you." The raven black haired woman smiled and carefully opened her hands, letting the bird fly away.

Suddenly the school bell ringed and all the kids made their way out of the classroom.

"We'll pick this up after recess. No running!" Mary Margaret said as she walked back to her desk.

And in that moment, when all kids ran out of the classroom, the madam mayor walked in, followed by the blonde stranger.

"Miss Mills, what are you doing here?" She furrowed her eyebrows lightly in confusion.

"Where is my son?!" Regina asked with a serious tone in her voice.

"Henry. I assumed he was home, sick, with you." Mary Margaret shrugged softly, not really knowing where the boy was.

"You think I'd be here, if he was?!" She walked closer to the teacher. "Did you give him your credit card, so he could find /him/?!" The brunette gestured towords the blonde, who was standing inside the doorway.

Mary Margaret tilted her head lightly to the side in thought as she looked to the blonde. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"I am-I'm his-" Emmanuel tried to reply to her, but as he didn't make it to speak a phrase out, the mayor replied for him.

"The brother of the woman who gave Henry up for adoption." The brunette answered coldly.

"You don't know anything about this, do you?" Emmanuel crossed his arms and asked the raven-black haired woman.

"No.. unfortunately not." Mary Margaret shook her head softly and searched for her credit card, in her purse. But she couldn't find it. "Hah, clever boy. I should have never gave him that book." She chuckled slightly.

Regina grit her teeth together, furiously as the teacher mentioned the book. "What in the hell, is this book I keep hearing about?!" She raised her voice.

"Just some old stories I gave him, as you-well know, Henry is a special boy. So smart. So creative-and as you might be aware-/lonely/. He needed it." Mary Margaret said with a small and soft smile.

"What he needs is a dose of /reality/. This is a waste of time." And with a huff, Regina walked out of the room, knocking over a stack of books on the way. "Have a nice trip back to Boston." She said to the blonde as she looked right into his hazel eyes.

Emmanuel, immediately walked over, to help Mary Margaret, pick up the books. "Sorry to bother you." He said as he handed her a few books.

"No, it's-" Mary Margaret furrowed her eyebrows in thought for a short moment. She felt something as she looked into the 'man's' eyes. "-it's okay. I fear this is partially my fault." She chuckled softly.

"How's the book supposed to help?" Emmanuel asked with a confused tone in his voice.

"What do you think stories are for?" Mary Margaret asked him, as she placed the books onto a table. " They're a way for us to deal with our world. A world that doesn't always make sense. See, Henry hasn't had the easiest life.." She made her way out of the classroom, motioning to him to come with her.

"Yeah, she's kind of a hard-ass." Emmanuel agreed to the raven-black haired woman and walked with her.

"You know, it's more than her. He's like any adopted child.-" Mary Margaret shook her head and talked with a concerned tone in her voice. "He wrestles with that most basic question: 'Why would anyone give me away.'-"

Emmanuel gasped softly and stopped walking, as he heard that question. And then, Mary Margaret realized that Emmanuel was Henry's uncle.

"-I am so sorry-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean in any way to judge your sister." The teacher regretted to have said such thing.

Henry's 'uncle' just nodded his head slightly and said with a soft tone in his voice, almost whispering. "..it's okay.."

"Look, I gave the book to him, because I want Henry to have, the most important thing anyone can have: Hope. Believing in even the possibility of a happy ending, is a very powerful thing."

"You know where he is, don't you?" Emmanuel looked right into her eyes.

"You might want to check his castle." Mary Margaret offered him a weak smile.

-Castle?.. Really?.. This town is all about fairy tales..-

"Aaand where is that?" Emmanuel asked with a confused look on his face.

"It's at the docks. When you walk out of this building, you walk down the street, to your right and there you'll see his castle." Mary Margaret smiled gently.

"Okay, thanks." He nodded his head softly and made his way out of the school.

"Sure. Good luck!" The teacher said to him, almost shouting, as she watched him go.

Before Emma made her way to the docks, she went to the sheriff station, to pick up her keys for her yellow bug, which was parked at the sheriff station.

"Hey, can I get my car keys back?" Emmanuel said to the sheriff, as he walked in.

"Oh right. Here they are. Have you found Henry?" Graham handed him the keys and tilted his head lightly in thought.

"Thanks. No, but I'm on my way." The blonde said with a soft smirk on his face, as he made his way out of the station.

"Wait! You might want to take this back too!" Graham gestured to the book, before he handed it to him.

-Henry's fairy tale book!-

"Yeah, thanks!" He smiled gently at the sheriff, before he walked out of the station and climbed into his bug, making his way to the docks.

Once Emmanuel arrived to Henry's castle, he grabbed the book, that he had placed on the passenger's seat. Quietly, he climbed up to the boy's castle, but he had already seen and heard him.

"You left this in my car." Emmanuel took a seat right next to the boy and handed him the book.

The boy accepted the book, without moving his gaze from the clock tower and the blonde noticed it.

"Still hasn't moved, huh?" He asked, as he too glanced at it.

"I was hoping that when I bring Emma back.. things would change here." Henry looked down and his voice slowly became quieter.

"No, they wouldn't." Emmanuel shook his head softly while he pursed his lips into a line.

"How do you know?! It was her destiny. She was supposed to bring back all the happy endings." Henry said with a serious tone in his voice and looked at him, with a knowing look.

"Agh, can you cut it with the book crap?" Emmanuel looked annoyed at the boy.

"You don't have to be hostile. I know you like me, I can tell. You're just-pushing me away, because I probably make you feel bad for Emma. It's okay." Henry smiled weakly at him.

"I know why she gave me away." His weak smile turned into a reassuring one.

"She wanted to give me my best chance." He added.

Emmanuel couldn't get any words out. Just a soft gasp in shock escaped through his pale lips as he glanced away.

-Shh.. just-breathe in and out and stay cool, Em.-

"How do you know that?" He said with a slight confused tone in his voice, but still serious.

"It's the same reason why Snow White gave you both away." The boy said while his gaze was still on him.

"Listen to me, kid. She's not in any book. She was a real person. And she was no savior. You were right about one thing, though.-" Emmanuel paused to inhale and exhale softly, trying to stay strong. "-She wanted you to have your best chance, but it wouldn't have been with her." He felt how tears were forming in his eyes and so he suggested to bring the boy back home. "C'mon let's go." The blonde jumped down of the castle and walked to his car.

"Please, don't take me back there. Just stay with me for one week, that's all I ask. /One week/ and you'll see I'm /not/ crazy!" The boy whined softly as he got down of his castle as fast as possible, to try to stop the blonde.

"I have to get you back to your mom." Emmanuel said with a trembling voice. He was still fighting against his tears and the painful lump in his throat.

"You don't know what it's like with her, my life /sucks/." The boy started to cry in front of him as he spoke his words with a furious tone in his voice.

And that sentence was the shutter release, for Emmanuel to cry.

"Oh, you know what /sucking/ is?! Being left, abandoned, on the side of a freeway. My parents didn't even bother to drop me-and Emma off at a hospital. We ended up in a foster system and had a family until we were /three/ and then they had their own kids and they sent us back." He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breathe, to calm down himself.

Then, he bent down to the boy's height and looked him in the eyes. "Look. Your mom, is trying her /best/. I know it's hard and I know you think, sometimes she doesn't love you. But at least she /wants/ you."

"Your parents didn't want to leave you on the side of a freeway. That's were you and Emma came through." The boy still believed that Emmanuel and Emma were Snow White's and Prince Charming's children.

"What?!" Emmanuel looked confused at him.

-Oh, this kid...-

"The wardrobe. When you went through the wardrobe, you appeared on the street. Your parents were trying to safe you from the curse."

"Sure they were." Emmanuel laughed softly and wiped his tears away. "C'mon, Henry." He gestured to Henry, to follow him.

The boy obeyed and followed him, speeding his pace, just to hold the blonde's hand.

Emmanuel startled lightly at the unexpected action of the boy, but he just smiled softly and walked him to his car. As soon as both were seated in the bug, he started the engine and drove off to the mansion.

A few minutes later, both arrived to the mayor's mansion. It was no need of Emmanuel nor Henry, to knock or ring the door bell. Regina was watching them through the curtains of the window next to the door, since she heard the sound of the only bug in this town for now.

The brunette opened the door, with an expecting small smirk and a perfect arched brow.

Henry just ran into the mansion, without saying 'goodbye' to Emmanuel, nor a 'hello' to his adoptive mother.

Regina wanted to follow her son, to scold him, because he had ran away for the second time and for walking in without greeting her. But then she looked back at the blonde who was standing outside, at her porch. "Thank you." She slowly walked to her porch.

"No problem." Emmanuel said with a soft tone in his voice.

"He seems to have taken quite a shine to you." Regina offered the man a gentle smile as she placed her hands into her jacket pockets and stopped right in front of him.

Emmanuel laughed gently and shrugged softly. "You know it seems kind of crazy. Yesterday was my birthday. And-when I blew out the candle on this cupcake I bought myself, I actually made a wish. That I didn't have to be alone on my birthday. And then Henry showed up..-"

*No.. No, no, no. He obviously wants to win /my/ son over!*

Regina smirked as she interrupted him. "I hope there's no misunderstanding here."

"I'm sorry?" Emmanuel grinned confused.

"Don't mistake all of this as an invitation back into his life." Regina placed both of her hands on her waist.

"Oh.." And again, Emmanuel was speechless.

"Mr. Swan, your sister made a decision ten years ago. And in the last decade, while she has been-" Regina said with a very serious tone in her voice and then she shrugged. "-well; who knows what she's been doing; I've changed /every/ diaper, soothed /every/ fever, endured /every/ tantrum. She may have given birth to him, but he is /my/ son."

"I was not-" Emmanuel wanted to explain that he didn't have the intention of taking Henry away from her, but again, he got interrupted by the mayor.

"No, you don't get to speak. /You/ don't get to do /anything/. Your sister gave up that right when she tossed him away. Do you know what a closed adoption is?" She walked down of her porch and closer to him. "It's what she asked for. You have absolutely no legal right to Henry, and you're gonna be held to that. So I suggest you get in your car, and you leave this town. Because if you don't, I /will/ destroy you, if it is the /last/ thing I do." She looked right into his hazel eyes as she warned him.

-/Destroy me/?!-

"Goodbye, Mr. Swan." Regina walked back into her mansion.

But before she entered, Emmanuel asked her with a slight shaking voice. "Do you love him?"

"/Excuse me/?" Regina raised her eyebrows in confusion but also surprised. She thought that the blonde was talking about sheriff Graham.

"/Henry/. Do you love him?" He asked with trembling lips.

"Of course I love him." Regina said with a soft and low tone in her voice.

Emmanuel watched her slam the door, before he walked back into his car and drove off to the heart of the town.

The day was almost over and it was getting dark.

While Emma was in her car, in front of 'Granny's Bed &amp; Breakfast', thinking about what Regina had said to her and how Henry begged her not to bring him back there, she remembered also that the boy had asked her to stay there for a week.

"What can happen in a week." She shrugged and chuckled softly as she talked to herself. "Tzz.. she wants to 'destroy' me. Yeah, try it, babe."

She sighed softly. "Alright. Let's do this." Emma climbed out of her car and locked it, before she walked into the building.

"You're out all night, and now you're going out again!?" An elderly and female voice grumbled in the stairways.

Followed by a young female one. "I should've moved to Boston!"

"I'm sorry that my heart attack interfered with your plans to sleep your way down the Eastern Seaboard!" Granny said as she was about to follow the young brunette.

"Excuse me? I would-like a room?" Emmanuel rubbed the back of his neck softly as he interrupted both of them.

Ruby peeked in, with a surprised expression on her face, while she put on her scarf.

"/Really/?" Granny said with an astonished and surprised tone in her voice.

Emmanuel just nodded his head.

Granny fetched a ledger to sign the stranger in. "Would you like a forest view or a square view? Normally there's an upgrade fee for the square, but as the rent is due, I'll wave it."

Ruby watched them while she crossed her arms, scanning the blonde guy with her big green eyes.

"Square is fine." Emmanuel chuckled gently.

"Now. What's the name?" Granny asked him, as he was about to write his name into the ledger.

"Swan. Emmanuel Swan." The blonde said his name and in that moment, Mr. Gold appeared behind him.

"Emmanuel..? What a nice name." The old man said as he offered him a gentle smile.

"Uh.. thanks..?" Emmanuel smiled lightly confused, hoping that the man didn't recognize that he's actually a woman.

Granny grabbed the roll of cash from the drawer and handed it to Mr. Gold. "It's all here."

Mr. Gold accepted the money, without counting it. "Yes, yes, of course it is, dear. Thank you." He then, glanced at the blonde. "Enjoy your stay, /Emmanuel/." And smirked before he exited the building.

-Shit.. does he know I'm a woman?... I hope not..-

Emmanuel raised his eyebrows lightly in confusion. "Who's that?" He asked Granny and Ruby.

Ruby watched Gold through the curtains as she told him the name of the man who was there. "Mr. Gold. He owns this place."

"The inn?"

"No. The town." Granny said with a serious and frightened tone in her voice, at the same time.

-But.. Regina?! I thought she..-

"So, how long will you be with us?" Granny interrupted Emma's thoughts.

"A week. Just-a week." The blonde answered with a soft but gentle smile.

"Great." Granny returned the gentle smile and handed Emmanuel, an old-fashioned key, with a swan keychain. "Welcome to Storybrooke."

And as Emmanuel reached for the key and held it into his hands, the clock needle moved. It was no longer 8:15. Now it was 8:16 pm.

Henry was looking out of his window and a bright smile appeared on his face as he saw the clock needle move. "But.. how? Emma isn't here? ..Emmanuel?! He-he stood!" The boy said to himself.

Emma searched for the room. "1.. 2.. 3.. and 4!" She opened the door of the room and let a sigh out as soon as she closed the door.

"Where have I gotten into?" Emma frowned in thought and took off her leather jacket, letting it fall on the floor.

It's been a lot for today and so she walked to the bed and let herself fall onto it. "Mmm.. so comfy.." A tired smile appeared on her face.

She took off her biker boots, jeans and threw the ball of stockings on the floor, before she snuggled into the blankets.

Emma finally closed her eyes and soon she fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**[First of all, I'd like to apologize for letting you guys wait so long for this chapter. I had a lot going on: my finals, then vacation and a lot of birthdays; including mine. :P I hope you enjoy reading this 4th chapter! Thank you for still following this story! I'm currently working on chapter numero 5!]**

_**[Emma's thoughs: -...-**_

_**Regina's thoughts: *...*]**_

**Chapter 4: Don't Underestimate Me Mr. Swan**

It was 7:55 A.M. and Regina was in her bedroom, flipping through Henry's book. She paused on a page where the Evil Queen was to be seen and indeed that woman in the drawing looked a lot like her. It also looked as if she was interfering Snow White and Prince Charming's wedding. The prince's sword was in mid-flight towards her. And when she turned that page, the brunette could see that the last several pages have been ripped out from the book. Immediately, she entered Henry's room, where she found him in front of his mirror, trying to fix his tie as he got ready for school.

"The missing pages, where are they?" Regina said as she held the book for him to look.

"It's an old book, stuff's missing. What do you care?" The boy shrugged and turned around to look at her.

"I care because you think I'm some evil queen. And that hurts me, Henry. I'm /your mother/." She cupped his chin gently, with her right hand and smiled softly at him.

But Henry stepped back and furrowed his eyebrows at her. "No, you're not."

Regina pulled her hand back and furrowed her eyebrows in slight anger. "Well, then, who is? The sister of that guy you brought here? I don't like what he or this book is doing to you. Thankfully both are no longer an issue."

Henry just sighed softly while he packed his school stuff into his schoolbag.

"What?" His mother asked with a confused tone in her voice, as in that moment, the clock tower chimed. She turned her head toward the sound, with a surprised expression on her face and Henry took advantage of the opportunity to walk away and make his way to school.

While Regina was on her way to her office, she stood on the sidewalk near the clock tower and looked up at it. Wondering why it suddenly started to work.

Archie was casually walking Pongo and so he walked up to the mayor. "Hey, how about that? Guess those rustly old innards finally straightened themselves out, huh?"

Regina looked across the street and spotted Emmanuel's car parked on the side of the street, in front of Storybrooke's bakery.

*So, he's still in town, huh?..*

"Yes, how 'bout that, indeed." She smirked and continued her way to the town hall, where she would pick some red apples and place them into a basket, before she would make her way to Granny's Bed &amp; Breakfast. The place where she thought Emmanuel could be.

Meanwhile at Granny's Bed &amp; Breakfast. Emma woke up, by the sun rays that beamed through the window and onto her face.

"Ugh.." She grumbled and rubbed her sleepy eyes, before she opened them slowly and looked around with a confused furrow of her eyebrows. "Still in this mysterious town.."

The blonde got up and went into the bathroom, to brush her teeth and fix her wig. Once she finished, she walked back into the bedroom and suddenly she heard a knock on the door.

-Who can that be? It's not even 9 a.m.?-

Emma walked to the door, but before she opened she noticed that she was only wearing a black t-shirt and her underwear.

-Shit! The socks!-

Again, the person outside the room knocked three times.

"One second!" She widened her eyes and grabbed the ball of socks, that were on the floor and immediately stuffed them into her boxer shorts, before she opened the door.

-Oh shit..- Emmanuel gulped.

It was Regina, standing in the hallway, holding a basket of apples.

*Oh my goodness.. he-he's in underwear.. Okay.. don't look down there.. look into his eyes.*

The brunette widened her eyes and blushed deeply at the sight. She gently cleared her throat and tried to focus on what she was about to say.

"Did you know the honeycrisp tree is the most vigorous and hardy of all apple trees? It can survive temperatures as low as forty below and keep growing. It can weather any storm. I have one that I've tended to, since I was a little girl. And to this day, I have yet to taste anything more delicious than the fruit it offers."

With a wide grin on her face, Regina extended her arm, to hand Emmanuel one of her apples.

Emmanuel raised his eyebrow slightly in confusion as he accepted the apple. "Thanks."

"I'm sure you'll enjoy them on your drive home." Regina held the whole basket out for him. She still believed that Emmanuel had the intention of taking Henry away from her.

"Actually, I'm gonna stay for a while." The blonde pursed his lips while he shrugged slightly.

*/What?!/*

The bright grin on Regina's face turned into a soft one. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea. Henry has enough issues, he doesn't need you confusing him."

"All due respect, madam mayor, the fact that you have now threatened me twice in the last twelve hours makes me wanna stay more." Emmanuel smirked.

"Since when were apples a threat?" Regina shook her head lightly in confusion.

"I can read between the lines." He winked at the brunette. "Sorry, I just wanna make sure Henry's okay."

"He's fine, dear. Any problems he has, are being taken care of." Regina forced a reassuring smile.

"What does that mean?" He asked with a confused tone in his voice.

"It means I have him in therapy. It's all under control. Take my advice, Mr. Swan, only one of us knows what's best for Henry." The mayor winked at the blonde while she smirked.

"Yeah, I'm starting to think you're right about that." Emmanuel nodded his head slowly.

"It's time for you to go." Regina's soft smile vanished.

"Or /what/?" The guy raised his eyebrow at her.

Regina took a step closer to Emma. "Don't underestimate me, Mr. Swan. You have no idea what I'm capable of." She said with a serious tone in her voice and with that, the mayor walked back to her office in the town hall.

-Damn, I can only imagine,..- She smirked. -/Em/. Stop looking at her butt.-

Emma closed the door and chuckled at what just happened. "This woman is already driving me crazy." She rolled her eyes and put on her jeans and the red leather jacket.

Then, she exited the building and walked over to Granny's Diner, where she took a seat at the counter and read the newspaper.

Ruby set a mug of hot chocolate with cinnamon, in front of her, right when she was about to bite into the apple Regina gave her. "Here you go."

Emmanuel furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Thank you-but I did not order that."

Ruby just flashed him a big grin in confusion. "Yeah, I know. Someone in this room did."

The blonde turned around and the first person she saw, was sheriff Graham, who was seated in a booth. He put down the newspaper, grabbed the mug of hot chocolate with cinnamon and walked over to him.

-You..-

"Ah, so you decided to stay." The sheriff offered him a gentle smile.

"Observant. Important for a cop." Emmanuel nodded his head softly.

"That's good news for our tourist business, bad for our local signage." Graham hissed in thought and pursed his lips as he shook his head.

Emmanuel tilted his head slightly to the side as he gave him a look.

"It's-it's a joke... because you ran over our sign..." The sheriff tried to explain with a nervous tone in his voice.

"Look, the cocoa was a nice gesture and I am impressed that you guessed that I like cinnamon in my chocolate, 'cause most people don't, but I am not here to make best buds or-something like that? So, thank you, but no thank you." He set the mug on the table.

"Uhm.. I didn't send it." Graham widened his eyes lightly and shook his head, amused by the misunderstanding.

"I did. I like cinnamon, too." A young male voice said. It was Henry, who was seated in another booth. He decided to walk to Granny's diner, before school. The boy grabbed his schoolbag, as he got up and walked towards him.

Emmanuel raised his eyebrows in surprise, totally not expecting the boy to be in the diner. "Don't you have school?"

"Duh, I'm ten. Walk me." He smiled softly at the blonde and waited for him to drink his cocoa.

Once both left the diner, they walked down the sidewalk, on their way to Storybrooke Elementary School.

"So, what's the deal with you and your mom?" Emmanuel asked curiously while he played with the apple Regina gave him earlier.

"It's not about us, it's about her curse. We have to break it. Luckily, I have a plan. Step one: identification. I call it, 'Operation Cobra'." The boy smirked softly.

"Cobra? That has nothing to do with fairytales." Emmanuel said with a confused tone in his voice.

"Exactly, it's a codename. It'll throw the Queen off the trail." Henry explained.

"So, everyone here is a fairytale character, they just don't know it." Emmanuel said with a confused expression on his face.

"That's the cure. Time's been frozen.. Until you got here." The little boy nodded his head.

Emmanuel moved the apple to his mouth, to take a bite of it.

Henry watched the young man, who was about to bite into the apple and immediately stopped him from doing it. "Hey! Where did you get that?"

"Your mom..?" The guy looked confused at the little boy.

"Don't eat that!" He took it from him and threw it away.

Emmanuel widened his eyes slightly in startle at the unexpected action of the boy. "Okay... Uhm.." He tried to focus back onto the topic. "uh, alright. What about their pasts?"

"They don't know. It's a haze to them. Ask anyone anything and you'll see." Henry let a small sigh escape through his lips.

The blonde resumed all that Henry's been trying to explain him. "So... for decades, people have been walking around, in a haze, not aging, with screwed up memories, stuck in a cursed town that kept them oblivious."

Henry smiled brightly at him. "I knew you'd get it! That's why we need you, now you're the only one who can stop her curse."

Emmanuel scoffed softly while he arched an eyebrow at the boy. "Because I'm also the child of Snow White and Prince Charming?"

"Yes! And right now, we have the advantage. My mom doesn't know that." Henry unzipped his schoolbag. "I took out the end,-" He paused to take out the missing pages from the 'Once Upon A Time' book and handed them to Emmanuel. "-the part with her in it." The boy gestured to the baby girl in the picture.

Emmanuel looked at a page showing an illustration of Prince Charming placing baby Emma in the wardrobe. The name 'Emma' was clearly visible on the baby's blanket.

"See? That's your sister. This means, your mom /is/ Snow White!"

Emma just offered the boy a soft smile. It was kind of hard for her to believe all this. "Kid.."

"I know the hero never believes at first, if they did, it wouldn't be a very good story. If you need proof, take them, read them. But whatever you do, don't let her see these pages. They're dangerous. If she finds out who you are... then it would be bad." Henry warned the guy with a nod of his head while he looked right into hazel eyes.

Soon both reached the front of Storybrook's Elementary School. Emmanuel stopped walking, but Henry moved on.

"I gotta go, but I'll find you later and we can get started." Henry smiled big at the blonde as he walked backwards. "I knew you'd believe me!"

"I never said I did!" Emmanuel raised his voice so the boy could hear him.

"Why else would you be here?" The boy turned around and ran off towards the school as he shouted back.

-Silly boy..- The blonde chuckled as he watched the boy run away.

In that moment, Mary Margaret approached the savior.

"It's good to see his smile back." The raven-black haired woman stated with a warm smile on her face.

"I didn't do anything." Emmanuel shrugged in confusion.

"You stayed. So.. does the Mayor know you're still here?" Mary Margaret asked curiously.

"Oh, she knows. What is her deal? She's not a great people person, how did she get elected?" The guy crossed his arms and looked right into the eyes of the woman in front of him.

"She's been Mayor as long as I can remember. Noone's ever been brave enough to run against her. She inspires quite a bit of.. well, fear. I'm afraid I only made that worse by giving Henry that book and now he thinks she's the Evil Queen." Mary Margaret lowered her gaze and let a soft sigh escape through her lips.

-She looks way too hot, to be an Evil Queen..-

"Who does he think you are?" Em furrowed his eyebrows as he listened attentive to the teacher.

Mary Margaret just scoffed. "It's silly.."

Emmanuel laughed and placed his hands back into his posterior pants pocket. "I just got five minutes of silly. Lay it on me."

"Snow White." The raven-black haired woman blurted the name out.

-/Snow White/. Holy mother.. That means.. Oh my god.. She'd be my.. What the actual fuck, Em? No, that's impossible and ridiculous!- Emmanuel looked slightly astonished at her response. The school bell ringed in the background.

"Who does he think you are?" Miss Blanchard asked with a grin on her face and a curious tone in her voice.

-No, stop. Don't ask me! Shit..- Swan hesitated, before replying to her. "I'm not in the book.. Can I ask you for a favor? Regina mentioned the kid's in therapy; do you know where I can find the doctor?"

Snow gladly told her the address of Henry's therapist and before she walked back into the school, she wished the blonde good luck.

-Well.. that was a huge awkward moment.- Emma watched the teacher walk into the building and then she searched for the therapist's office.

After a few minutes of walking, Emma approached the psychiatrist's office.

Archie was seated on his armchair, reading some notes he had made, of one of his patients and in that moment, he heard someone knocking on his door. He set the papers down and got up of his chair. With a gentle smile, he opened the door, just to find the blonde guy standing there.

"Emmanuel Swan. Hello, please come in. How may I help you?" The redhead stepped back, to give the other man space to walk in, as he chuckled gently; surprised that Mr. Swan had come to see him.

The blonde chuckled sheepishly and took a seat on the couch. "Hey. Well, I'm here about Henry.."

Archie followed his steps and took a seat on his armchair. But before, he took the papers with the notes he had left a few seconds ago on his chair and put them into their file. His eyebrows arched at the mention of the little believer. "I'm sorry, I-I.. I really shouldn't..." He offered her a soft sad smile.

"I know. I'm sorry. I just-... just tell me something." Emmanuel frowned softly. "This fairytale obsession, what is causing it? I mean, he thinks everyone is a character in his book. That's-/crazy/." He stated with a slight roll of his eyes.

Archie pursed his lips as he inhaled deeply, while he softly shook his head. "I-I hope you don't talk that way in front of him. The word 'crazy' is um.. quite damaging. These stories-" He paused himself to think his explanation through, quickly. "-they're his language. He has no idea how to express complex emotions so he's translating as best he can; this is how he communicates. He's using this book to help deal with his problems."

Emmanuel furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief as he looked right into the 'shrink's' eyes. "But he got the book a month ago. Has he been seeing you longer than that?"

Archie gulped nervously. "Um-Yes, he has."

-I /knew/ it. Regina, that little bitch..- Em thought and without a second thought, the blonde asked right away. "So it's Regina, isn't it?"

Archie gulped once again, averting his eyes for a few seconds as he frowned. "Uh.. his mother is a-very complicated woman, and uh.. over the years, her attempts to try and bring Henry closer, have only backfired." He got up of his chair and walked towards his file cabinet, to pick a certain file. "Why don't you take a look at the file. Um... see what I mean." The doctor said as he walked towards the savior and handed him the file.

Swan raised his left eyebrow in confusion, but accepted the file anyway as he got up. "Why are you doing this?"

"Well, he talks about you a lot. You're-very important to him." Archie shrugged softly as he offered the blonde a small smile.

Emmanuel looked down at the file and then back at the redhead. "Thank you." He said with a soft but gentle smile.

"Just uh... see that I get it back, okay?" Dr. Hopper opened the door as the savior walked towards the exit. "Mr. Swan." The redhead stopped him for a second. "Just for the sake of the boy, be careful how you handle his-belief system." He said with a slight concerned expression on his face. "To destroy his imagination would be-would be devastating." The 'shrink' added.

With a nod of his head, the mysterious guy in red leather jacket, walked over to Granny's Bed &amp; Breakfast; to calmly read the file in the room he had booked a night before.

Archie closed the door and sat down at his desk. He picked up the phone to make a call. Once someone finally picked up, he nervously started to speak. "You were right. He-was just here."

On the other end of the line, a female voice spoke. "Did he take the file?"

Dr. Hopper nodded his head a few times and then furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Yes. H-how did you know he was gonna come here?"

"Because I'm the one who gave him the idea." The mayor chuckled darkly in victory and hung up the call. *Got him!*

Soon, Emmanuel was laying down on his bed, reading through Henry's file; when there was a knock on the door. He set the papers on the bed and got up, to open the door, just to reveal Sheriff Graham in the hallway.

-Ugh.. What the hell? This dude again? I think he's really into me..-

"Hey there. If you're concerned about the 'Do Not Disturb' signs, don't worry; I've left them alone." The blonde said, before the sheriff could say any word.

"Actually, I'm here about Dr. Archibald Hopper." Graham pursed his lips for a few seconds, before he continued. "He mentioned you got into a bit of a row with him earlier?"

-/What/?- Emmanuel had a very confused expression on his face. "No..?"

The sheriff gave a nonchalant shrug. "I'm shocked too, given your shy, delicate sensibilities. He says you demanded to see Henry's files and when he refused you came back and stole them."

-Are you kidding me?- Swan furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. "He /gave/ them to me."

"Alas, he's telling a different tale." The former huntsman chuckled and moved slightly to the side, to get a better look into the room. "May I check your room? Or must I get a search warrant?"

-Well fuck.- Emmanuel turned around, rolling his eyes mortified, as he opened the door fully. He walked over to his bed and gestured to the files spread on it. "This what ya lookin' for?"

Graham followed the guy in front of him, picking up a file and glancing down at it. "Well, you're very accommodating. But, I'm afraid, Mr. Swan, you're under arrest. /Again/." With a disappointed expression on his face, he pulled his cuffs out and began to cuff the blonde.

-You got to be fucking kidding me..-

"You know I'm being set up, don't you?" Emmanuel huffed in anger.

Graham smirked at Swan's suspicion. "And whom, may I ask, is setting you up?"

-It's pretty obvious, duh!-

"Ugh.." The blonde just grumbled quietly to himself while the sheriff led the way to the patrol car.

In the meantime, Mary Margaret was giving a lesson outside, as Regina Mills approached her and the kids.

Regina cleared her throat loud enough for the teacher to notice. She tilted her head slightly to the side and stood up, to approach the mayor.

"May I speak with my son?" The older brunette asked with a serious tone in her voice.

Mary Margaret furrowed her eyebrows lightly as she spoke. "We're in the middle of a lesson. Is it important?"

*Bitch, do I look like I'm not serious?!* Regina couldn't ressist the roll of her eyes in annoyance. "Do you think I'd be here if it wasn't!?"

The teacher called Henry out and left mother and son alone.

"Henry, sweetie, I have some bad news." The former evil queen said with a sad tone in her voice as she caressed her son's cheek. "The man who you brought here... he's been arrested." She pursed her lips. "He broke into Dr. Hopper's office and stole his files. He's a con man. He's trying to learn about us in order to take advantage of us. That's why he's sticking around. I'm sorry." The mayor shook her head softly.

But Henry furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief, sensing that this had something to do with her. "No, you're not."

*You had to be a smartass..*

Regina gasped slightly at her son's response. "I know you think otherwise, but all I'm doing is trying to protect you. This is going to be good for us, you'll see. Things will be better." She explained to him and after she spoke, the school bell ringed in the background.

"I gotta get back to class." The boy pushed his mother's hand away and ran back to his classmates.

As soon as the sheriff arrived to Storybrooke's sheriff department; together with the blonde. He started taking mugshots of him.

"You know the shrink is lying, right?" Emmanuel said very confident.

"To the right, please." He gestured to him, to turn around. "Why would he lie?" His eyebrows furrowing at his own question.

-C'mon! It's pretty obvious!- Swan turned around, with a 'really?' expression on her face. "The Mayor put him up to this.. she's gotta have something on him. He's terrified of her, like everyone else in this-town."

"To the left." The sheriff said, as he took another mugshot. "Regina may be a touch intimidating, but I don't think she'd go as far as a frame-job."

Emmanuel turned towards the other guy and furrowed his eyebrows. "How far would she go? What does she have her hands in?"

-Oops.. maybe my last question is a little ambiguous.-

Graham shrugged softly. "Well, she's the Mayor. She has her hands in everything."

-Everything, huh?- Swan arched an eyebrow as he asked very interested. "Including the police force?"

Graham gave her a look and as he was about to give Emmanuel, a reply, he gets interrupted by the young believer.

-Damnit, kid. I was about to get an important answer..-

Henry ran in, followed by Mary Margaret. "HEY!" He shouted with a grin on his face.

"Henry! Henry, what are you doing here?" The sheriff asked concerned as he looked down at him.

"His mother told him what happened." Mary Margaret replied for him.

Emmanuel scoffed and shook his head. "/Of course/ she did!" Then he turned around towards the boy. "Henry, I don't know what she said-"

But Henry interrupted her. "You're a genius!" A bright and wide grin was to be seen on his face.

-Geez, kid. Will you ever let someone speak? Wait, what?-

"What?" Emmanuel asked with furrowed eyebrows in confusion.

"I know what you were up to." Henry winked at her as he gave her a knowing look.

-What is this kid talking about..- Swan still had the confused expression on his face.

"You were gathering intel." Henry said almost whispering. "For 'Operation Cobra'." He added, making sure that nobody but Emmanuel could hear him.

But the sheriff did hear the boy. He blinked a few times as he tried to understand what Henry was talking about. "I'm sorry, I'm a bit lost.."

The smart boy just offered him a gentle smile. "It's need to know, Sheriff and all you need to know is that Miss Blanchard's gonna bail her out."

The savior glanced at the teacher, with raised eyebrows. "You are? Why?"

Mary Margaret just nodded her head a few times and smiled fondly at her. "I-uh.. trust you."

-Ookay. Let's not think that you also have a crush on me, because no, just no.-

"Well. If you could uncuff me.." The blonde gladly turned towards the sheriff, extending his cuffed wrists to him. "..I have something to do."


	5. Chapter 5

**_[Note to readers: This chapter is a little longer than all the others, but I hope you guys enjoy it anyway!]_**

_[Emma's thoughts: -...-_

_Regina's thoughts: *...*]_

**Chapter 5: You Have No Idea What I Am Capable Of  
**

That same day, after the blonde got released, the mayor was in her office, sitting at her desk and working; as a loud noise was to be heard, coming from outside. It was a chainsaw. The confused mayor turned around and looked out the window, just to find her blonde opponent, cutting off a branch of her beloved apple tree.

*You little bitch. You did /not/!* And with those thoughts, Regina rushed outside, to Emmanuel. Gritting her teeth in anger, the brunette stopped right in front of the blonde, who just threw the chainsaw on the floor. "What the hell are you doing!?"

-Oh damn.. She looks even hotter when she's angered.- Emmanuel just scoffed, amused by the look on the mayor's face. "Picking apples."

"You're out of you mind!" Regina said with furrowed eyebrows and a furious expression on her face.

Emmanuel shook his head, with the smirk still on his face. "No, you are, if you think a shoddy frame job is enough to scare me off. You're gonna have to do better than that. If you come after me one more time, I'm coming back for the rest of this tree. Because, sister, you have no idea what I am capable of." He looked deeply into the mayor's coffee brown eyes, as he took a few steps closer to her.

-Damn..- Em slowly backed away as she realized that she was way too close to the brunette.

*Focus, Regina. Focus.*

"Your move." Emmanuel said as he narrowed his eyes and soon walked away.

The mayor just furrowed her eyebrows more and quivered her chin in anger as she watched the blonde walk away, her eyes immediately going to the butt of the savior. *Stop being so attractive, Swan.*

-Well.. that was close..-

* * *

After vanishing from the town hall's yard, Emma searched for the key, to open the door of her current room and once she entered it, she started to take off her clothes and the wig, to take a shower. As she finished, she wrapped a towel around her body and dryed her hair with the hairdryer.

In that instant, Ruby knocked a few times on the room door, but the blonde couldn't hear her because of the loud noise of the hairdryer. So, the young wolf lady decided to enter it with the spare key.

"Uhm.. Emmanuel?" Because Ruby was very curious and to be honest, she found the blonde very attractive, she followed the noise of the hairdryer, which led her to the bathroom. And before the savior could say anything out of startle, or even put the wig on, the young brunette could obviously see, that Emmanuel wasn't a guy. "What the-You-You're a woman?!" Ruby covered the grin on her face with the palms of her hands. "No way."

-Well fuck.-

Emma gulped nervously and switched off the hairdryer, before she slowly moved closer to the other woman. "Look. I-I need you to keep this as a secret, please. Can I trust you something?"

Ruby blinked a few times as she nodded her head repeatedly and placed her hands back onto her hips. "Of course, yeah. Shoot."

"My name is Emma. Emma Swan. I'm Henry's biological mother. Regina nor Henry nor anyone else in this town, should know this secret, okay?" The blonde had a serious expression on her face as she talked to the other young woman.

"Okay, why?" The other asked with furrowed eyebrows and a curious tone in her voice.

"Because it can be very dangerous. Regina thinks I'm trying to take Henry away from her, which I'm not. I just want to make sure he is doing fine." Emma let a soft sigh escape through her lips.

"I get that.." The wolf lady nodded her head slowly, in understanding. "So.. there was never a twin? I mean.. you casually don't have a brother, who looks possibly hot, too?" Ruby asked with a cheesy grin on her face as she shrugged slightly and soon her cheeks turned into a dark shade of pink.

-hot? Hmm..-

"Uh.. no, sorry to disappoint you.." Emma chuckled sheepishly as she shook her head softly. "So.. why did you come in?" She asked as she tilted her head lightly to the side, in curiosity

Ruby pursed her lips while she lowered her gaze for a few seconds, before she glanced back at the blonde again. "I-I need to ask you to leave."

-What? Why? And here I thought we're about to become good pals..- The savior looked at her with a stunned look on her face.

"My Granny says we have a 'No felons'-rule. It-it turns out it's a city ordinance." Ruby bit her lower lip, nervously.

-Of course..- Emma rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Let me guess: the Mayor's office just called to remind you."

The young waitress nodded her head once, in confirmation. "Yeah.. I need to have your room key back. But hey, you could stay at my place, if you like?" She extended her hand gently and then, offered the blonde a gentle smile.

The savior handed her the key and she raised her eyebrows at the lovely offer. "Really? That would be great!" A smile appeared on her face.

"Of course! It's just a few houses away." Ruby accepted the key and shrugged while she chuckled softly.

* * *

Meanwhile in the town hall's yard. Regina was kneeled on the grass, next to the fallen branch of her apple tree and putting the apples into a basket. Graham approached her, with a confused expression on his face.

"He destroyed city property. I want him arrested." Regina said with an annoyed tone in her voice.

Graham arched his eyebrows. "Again?"

Regina huffed softly and turned her head to him. "What are you waiting for?"

Graham shrugged nonchalantly, before he crossed his arms. "I'm just not convinced, arresting him is the right plan."

The mayor stood up and straightened her skirt as she glared at the sheriff.

"And I'm not talking about your tree. We both know he didn't steal those files." The former huntsman pursed his lips.

Regina smirked darkly at him. "Oh, do we?"

Graham nodded his head firmly and very sure about his theory. "I mean, he looked pretty shocked when I leveled the charges against him."

Regina scoffed and shook her head as she kneeled down again. "That's because he doesn't like being caught."

Graham smirked slightly as he mentally put Regina on his main suspect list. "Or because he was set up. And if he was, that means Dr. Hopper was lying. If he's lying that means that someone asked him to."

Regina stood up, once again. This time, she looked him deeply in the eyes. "That's ridiculous. Remember, I made you sheriff. And I can take it away just as easily."

Graham inhaled deeply through his nose and nodded his head slowly. "You want me to arrest him again? I will."

"Good." A satisfied grin was to be seen on the brunette's face.

"But he's gonna keep comin' at you. And I know you, you are gonna keep comin' at him. You will do whatever it takes to get him out of here. And you may succeed." Graham rested his hands onto his own hips.

Regina gritted her teeth in anger. "I /will/ succeed!" She said furiously as she glared at the sheriff, while she moved closer to him. "Henry's /my/ son! It's what's best for him."

"I know, that's what you believe. But if this escalates, it seems to me, the only one who will get hurt is Henry." The sheriff told her his opinion.

"Argh! Just arrest him and give me his phone number." Regina groaned angrily, before she told Graham what to do.

And without any hesitation, the sheriff nodded his head and obeyed the mayor. He gave her Swan's phone number.

* * *

A few houses away from Granny's Bed &amp; Breakfast, Emmanuel and Ruby had finally arrived to the waitress' apartment.

"I thought you lived with your granny?" The blonde asked with a slight confused tone in his voice.

Ruby nodded her head softly as she opened the main door. "I do. I mean, I have my apartment but I don't really live in there, ever since my granny got her heartattacks.." She let a deep sigh escape through her red lips.

"Hmm, I can understand that." Emmanuel said with a small nod of his head.

Once Ruby opened the door, she waved with her hand, gesturing to the savior, to go inside. "Well, this can be your place now."

"Oh wow, well uh-just for a week." He made sure to leave it clear, that he wasn't going to stay in Storybrooke for a long while.

Ruby just grinned at him. "Of course."

Emmanuel grinned back and then he remembered that he couldn't just move into the waitress' apartment, without paying her at all. "Wait, I need to pay y-"

But the young wolf lady interrupted him, before he could even finish his sentence. "No. You don't have to pay me, it's alright!" She flashed him a wide grin.

The blonde rubbed the back of his neck and grinned sheepishly. "At least let me get you something."

"Something? Like what?" Ruby asked with a thrilled expression on her face.

Em chuckled gently at the expression on the brunette's face. "A surprise."

"A surprise? Uuuh.. I love surprises, yay!" Red said as she clapped gently and excitedly. "Oh, by the way, I got some clothes of-uh.. my ex-boyfriend.. You can have them, he doesn't live here anymore.." And slowly she lowered her gaze to the floor as she sighed softly.

"Thank you, Ruby." The blonde walked closer to the waitress and gently rubbed her upper arm. "I owe you big time."

"You know.. you're kinda making it hard for me, to think that you're not a man. With that wig and these clothes and that deep voice you make.." Ruby said with a cheeky grin as she playfully patted the blonde's shoulder.

-Yup. She's developing a crush on me. Damn charm of mine.-

"Anyway, I-should better go and let you suit yourself in here." Ruby said and once again, her cheeks flushed. "My shift is starting in a few minutes, see you around!" The wolf lady said, before she gave the blonde a quick but soft hug.

"Yeah, see you around." Emma chuckled and patted the back of the brunette gently, before she let her go.

* * *

Once the blonde went through every room in the apartment, she decided to go outside and walk through the streets of Storybrooke, to explore it and get to know it, a little more. As she approached Granny's Bed and Breakfast, she spotted her yellow bug and there she noticed, that there was a boot on it. Her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance and in that instant, her phone ringed. She picked it up, without looking at the unknown number. "Yeah?"

Regina was on the other side of the line, tapping with slender digits, against her desk. "Mr. Swan, I'd be happy to continue demonstrating my power, but in my writing, I'm guessing your resolve to stay is only growing?" She said, as soon as the blonde let a word out.

"You have no idea." Emmanuel answered with furrowed eyebrows and a serious tone in his voice.

"Well then. I think it's time we made peace. Why don't you drive over to my office." A smirk appeared on the mayor's face.

The savior opened the door of her yellow bug, just to throw her red leather jacket onto the driver's seat. Then she slammed the door furiously, making sure that the other woman could hear it.

"Or-walk.. whatever suits you." Regina shrugged softly as she remembered that she had told Graham, to put a boot on the yellow bug.

"Wait, how did you know my phone number?" Emma furrowed her eyebrows even more in confusion.

"Mr. Swan, I'm the mayor of this town. I know /everything/." The brunette said with a mischievous smirk on her face.

-Ugh, whatever..- Em hung up the call and rolled her eyes. -I just hope she doesn't know that I'm not a guy..-

Regina chuckled darkly, her new plan was working just fine.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Emmanuel finally approached Regina's office. He walked in, without knocking. "Here I am." The blonde said with no expression on his face.

*Oh there he is.. Composure, Regina. Composure. Goodness, those arms..*

"Please. Take a seat." The mayor gestured to the black armchair while she walked to her own and took a seat on it. "I'd like to start by apologizing, Mr. Swan." She crossed her legs and looked at the blonde.

-No.. why are you sitting so far away.. Wait what did she just say?-

"What?" Emmanuel arched an eyebrow. He did not expect her apology at all.

"I just have to accept the reality that you want to be here.." Regina folded her hands and rested them onto her lap.

"That's right. I do." Em interrupted her, to agree with her, with a single nod of his head. -I want to stay because of Henry and only Henry. Fuck no.. Why am I lying to myself..?-

"..And that you're here to take my son from me." Regina continued her sentence and raised her eyebrow lightly. Her eyes locked with those of Emmanuel.

"Okay, let's be clear once again: I have no intention of taking him from anyone." The savior chuckled weakly, finding it ridiculous of Regina to still think that.

"Well then, what are you doing here?" The older woman asked very intrigued.

"I know I'm not a parent. I think that's pretty self-evident, but my sister did have him, and I can't help it. He got into my head and I want to make sure he's okay. The more you try to push me out, the more I want to be here, especially after seeing how /troubled/ he is." He gave her a simple shrug as he replied.

Regina tilted her head slightly to the side as a soft scoff escaped her mouth. "You think he's troubled?"

The blonde shrugged once again as he pursed his lips. "Well, he's in therapy and I only got through a couple pages of his shrink's notes, before you had me arrested.." He paused himself as he glared at the brunette. "But putting all that aside, he thinks everyone in this town is a fairytale character."

Regina furrows her eyebrows slightly while a smirk tugs from the corner of her lips. "And you don't?"

Emmanuel widens his eyes in confusion while he scoffed softly. "How can I? The poor kid can't even tell the difference between fantasy and reality and it's only getting worse. It's /crazy/."

And in that moment, Henry spoke. He was standing in the doorway, listening to Em's answers. "You think I'm crazy?"

Emmanuel startled at the boy's voice. He wasn't supposed to be there. "Henry..."

The little believer just ran out of the office.

The savior stood up, as if to follow, but then he addressed Regina. "How long was he there?" A concerened expression was to be seen on his face, now.

"Long enough." Regina smirked victoriously.

"You knew he would be here." Emmanuel narrowed his eyes at her, as he shook his head.

Regina uncrossed her legs and straightened her skirt. The tension between both of them, only growing more and more. "Did I know that my son comes to my office every Thursday at precisely five P.M., so I can take him for dinner, before his therapy session? Of course I did. I'm his mother. /Your move/."

Em gritted his teeth in anger, the kid probably hated him now. "You have no soul. How in the hell did you get like this?" And with that, he exited the mayor's office.

Regina just swallowed thickly, the proud smirk on her face, remaining, but she was breaking from the inside and she made no reply as Emmanuel exited her office.

*Ask my mother.. Ask Snow White.. Ask everyone who has ruined my life!*

* * *

Emmanuel needed someone to talk to and since he didn't know or trust many people in Storybrooke, but Ruby and Mary Margaret Blanchard, he decided to visit the teacher. He owed her the bail money, anyway.

Mary Margaret was seated at the dining table of her loft, working on needlecraft while sipping her cocoa, when there's a knock at the door. She furrowed her eyebrows slightly, wondering who it could be. And as she opened the door, she found Emmanuel Swan in the hallway.

"Hey." He said with a gentle but shy smile.

Mary Margaret smiled surprised to see the young man at her loft. She opened the door, fully.

"Just wanted to say thank you and uhm.." The savior paused himself, to hand her an evenlope. "..pay you back the bail money." Again, another pause. Em looked exasperated as he sighed.

Mary Margaret sensed that something was wrong with him. "You look like you need to talk." She gestured to him, to come in.

Emmanuel just nodded his head lightly and took a seat at Mary Margaret's table.

"I made some cocoa, would you like some too?" The teacher asked the blonde, as she walked towards the kitchen.

Em raised his eyebrows lightly at the mention of one of his favorite beverages and nodded his head once in confirmation. "Yeah, I could need that." He then, walked towards one of the free stools at the dining table and took a seat.

Once Mary Margaret poured some hot chocolate into the savior's and her own mug, she added some whipped cream and cinnamon. Then she gently handed one mug to Em. "Here you have."

Emmanuel accepted the mug, with a small but gentle smile. And as he sipped the hot cocoa, his smile grew a little more, turning into a soft chuckle while his left brow raised. "Cinnamon?

As soon as the savior accepted the mug, the short haired woman quickly brought a plate of cookies to the table, as an accompaniment to the hot chocolate.. "Oh, I'm sorry." She blushed and lowered her gaze in shame. "I should have asked. It's a little quirk of mine. Do you mind?" She nervously looked back at the blonde.

Emmanuel couldn't help but to chuckle once again. "Not at all."

"Great. Would you like some?" Mary Margaret said as she offered the guy a cookie.

"No, thanks." Em shook his head gently and after taking a soft deep breath, he spoke again. This time with a serious tone in his voice. "When you bailed me out, you said-that you trusted me." His eyes focused on hers.

The teacher just nodded her head in affirmation.

"Why?" Emmanuel asked with furrowed eyebrows and very intrigued.

Mary Margaret just chuckled sheepishly and shrugged with her shoulders. "It's strange.. Ever since you arrived here, I've had the oddest feeling, like we've met before." She took a small sip of her cocoa and chuckled once again. "I mean, I know it's crazy."

Emmanuel grinned softly and shook his head. "I'm starting to reevaluate my definition of crazy." His eyes wandered down to the mug between his hands, as the thought of what had happened earlier with his son, popped up in his head.

"For what it's worth, I think you're innocent." The raven black haired woman said with a very confident tone in her voice while a soft smile appeared on her face.

The blonde tilted his head in slight confusion at the teacher's statement. "Of breaking and entering, or just in general?"

"Whichever makes you feel better." The other said with a gentle laugh and slight shrug of her shoulders.

Em took the last sip of his cocoa and let a soft sigh escape through his lips. "Doesn't really matter what anyone thinks I did or didn't do. I'm leaving." He pursed his lips and looked right into Snow's eyes. "Thank you for everything, but I think it's for the best. If I stay, Henry's only gonna keep getting hurt." His eyes moved down again and he let another sigh out.

Mary Margaret furrowed her eyebrows in concern. She didn't want to let that foreign guy go, just like that, because she felt a connection. "What happens if you go?"

Emma remained still. Letting that question process in her mind. She obviously didn't think about that at all.

The former bandit smiled slightly as she watched Emma being quiet. "I think the very fact that you want to leave is why you have to stay. You care about him. Who will protect Henry if you won't?"

Em nodded her head in agreement. Mary Margaret was right. Who would protect Henry if not her.. After all, she's supposed to be the savior..

* * *

In the meantime, Henry was seated on the couch, at Dr. Hopper's office, having his therapy session. A visibly distraught expression was to be seen on his face.

Archie was seated on his armchair, thinking about how to continue with this session, since the young believer only explained him a part of what had happened and then he just remained quiet. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

The boy said nothing, he only fiddled with Archie's umbrella.

The doctor grinned to himself as he looked at the umbrella. "You know, that umbrella is kind of my good luck charm."

Henry remained silent, still fiddling with the umbrella.

"Is that why you think I'm Jiminy Cricket?" Archie asked with a slight grin on his face, as he tilted his head slightly to the side and looked at the boy.

The little believer finally looked up to the man. "I don't think you're anyone." He said as he pursed his lips and set the umbrella down on the table.

Suddenly, Emmanuel opened the door of the psychiatrist's office and walked in, holding the storybook pages Henry had given him.

Archie's facial expression went from slight concerned, to surprised, anxious and proccupied at the same time, when he saw the savior walk in. "Mr. Swan. Look, I-I can explain. The Mayor forced me-"

The blonde interrupted the doctor while he walked towards the boy. "I know. Don't worry about it. I get it." He let a deep sigh escapre through his lips, before addressing the believer. "Henry, I'm sorry."

"I don't want to talk to you." The boy crossed his arms and averted his eyes from the blonde in front of him.

Archie scratched his temple nervously, already thinking about the consequences with the mayor. "Mr. Swan, if she knew you were here-"

"I'm not afraid of her." Swan responded right away, before the redhead could even finish his sentence. He took a seat right next to his supposed nephew and searched his gaze. "Henry, there is one simple reason I stayed here-/you/. I wanted to get to know you."

Henry furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief as he looked down. "You think I'm crazy!"

Em swallowed thickly, before explaining the misunderstanding. "No, I think /the curse/ is crazy. And it is!" He paused to let a deep sigh out. "But that doesn't mean that it isn't true. It is a lot to ask anyone to believe in, but there are a lot of crazy things in this world. So, what do I know? Maybe it is true."

The boy uncrossed his arms and looked into the hazel green eyes of the savior. "But you told my mom-"

Emmanuel chuckled as he finished Henry's sentence. "-What she needed to hear. What I do know, is that if the curse is real, the only way to break it is by tricking the Evil Queen; into thinking that we are nonbelievers. 'Cause, that way, she's not on to us. Isn't that what Operation Cobra was all about? Throwing her off the trail?"

A bright smile curved up Henry's lips, as he listened attentive to what his supposed uncle was telling him. "Brilliant!"

Emma smiled back at him, glad that he believed her. "I read the pages-and Henry, you're right. They are dangerous. There is only one way to make sure that she never sees them." She paused a second, to think of a possibility, of making the pages vanish forever. Then her eyes spotted the fireplace of Dr. Hopper's office and she took the pages, carefully and quickly placing them into the fireplace. "Now we have the advantage." She said as she took a few steps back and watched the pages burn.

Henry got up of the couch, to hug the savior. The bright smile, still on his face. "I knew you were here to help me!"

Emmanuel couldn't help but to smile fondly at the boy's action. He wrapped his arms around the believer, in a protective manner. Em tried to fight back the tears of joy that were soon forming in his eyes. "That's right, kid. I am." The savior broke the warm embrace, to show him a fond smile and look the boy in the eyes. "And nothing, not even a curse, is gonna stop that." They hugged again. This time, Em squeezed him affectionately.

* * *

Later that day, Regina was at the town hall's yard, picking up the fallen apples and cleaning the mess that the savior had made.

She wasn't alone anymore, since Mr. Gold decided to make an appearance. "What a mess." He pursed his lips and raised both of his eyebrows.

Regina startled lightly at the unexpected visit, but then, she rolled her eyes and continued picking the fallen apples. "Not for long. What can I do for you, Mr. Gold?"

He shrugged nonchalantly as he replied. "I was just in the neighborhood, thought I'd pop by. Lovely to see you in such high spirits."

The mayor couldn't help but to chuckle at the man's words. "Well, it's been a good day. I just rid the town of an unwanted nuisance."

Mr. Gold arched an eyebrow at the brunette, scoffing softly in amusement. "Emmanuel Swan? Really?"

Regina turned around and spoke totally confident. "Yes. I imagine he's halfway to Boston by now."

The mysterious man smirked knowingly as he picked an apple from the tree. "Oh, I wouldn't bet on that."

*He did not..* Mills scowled at his statement. She was pretty sure, she had won this battle, but she didn't know the savior well enough..

"I've just seen her strolling down the main street with your boy. Thick as thieves, they looked." Mr. Gold said with a huge smile on his face.

Regina widened her eyes. She couldn't believe what she just heard. "What?"

"Perhaps you should have come to me.. If Mr. Swan is a problem you can't fix, I'm only too happy to help, for a price, of course." The former Dark One offered.

Regina chuckled once again. "I'm not in the business of making deals with you anymore." She turned her back to him, returning to the tree.

"To which deal are you referring?" Gold tilted his head to the side in confusion, as he tried to remember what deal Regina was talking about.

The mayor turned her heels and looked at him. "You know what deal."

Mr. Gold remembered which deal, the former queen was talking about. A grin tugging from the corner of his lips."Oh, right, yeah. The boy I procured for you. /Henry/. Did I ever tell you what a lovely name that was? How ever did you pick it?"

Regina gritted her teeth and glared at him. "You wanted all this to happen, didn't you? Your finding Henry wasn't an accident, was it?"

The older man just shrugged. "Whatever do you mean?"

Regina kept asking, very intrigued. "Where did you get him?" ... "Do you know something?"

Gold remained silent for a few seconds, before he spoke. "I have no idea what you're implying."

The former Evil Queen walked closer to him and narrowed her eyes at him. "I think you do."

He only smirked a bit.

"Who is this guy and who is his sister, this-Emma Swan?" Regina tried not to blush as she asked him that question.

Mr. Gold let a soft sigh out as he kept the smirk on his face. "I would say you think you know exactly who they are, specially Emma Swan or do I mean Emmanuel? Hmm.. Names, names.."

Regina crossed her arms, remaining quiet for a moment. She was now confused and stunned at the same time.

"I really must be going." The former Dark One said, as he gently brushed the apple against his scarf, before he took a bite of it and finally left.


End file.
